The hunter was an old friend of Ralph’s, and many a time had these two hunted together on the plains.
The three others were listening with great interest, for the yarn (and it was a true one) was a very wild one, and well calculated to make the hearers feel an intense interest in it.
All at once, while in the middle of a sentence, the guide stopped, and held up his hand for the others to remain quiet. He had heard some noise that sounded suspicious.
What it was none of the others knew just then, but they watched the hunter as with head on one side he sat listening.
They wondered what noise the old hunter had heard, but in fact it was not a noise that he heard but the sudden stoppage of one which had been sounding in his ears since darkness had set in.
The wolves on the burnt plain, on the opposite side of the river, had suddenly stopped howling. To any of the others, this incident would not have meant any thing even had they noticed it, which is very doubtful. But to an old hunter and Indian-fighter it meant a good deal. The wolves would never stop howling unless some human being was near them. Therefore Ralph was listening for some sound which would tell whether there were men on the other side of the river or not. He did not have long to wait.
A sound came to their ears, even though the wind was not coming from the river to them, that even the Frenchman heard, although of course he did not know what made them.
The sound which all heard was like that made by a crowd of horses or buffaloes, but the old hunter knew that every one of those horses had a rider upon its back. At first he thought it must be Red Buffalo and the remnant of his band returning to the river after the fire to see if the whites had escaped or been burned up.
He soon knew, however, that the noise was a great deal too heavy to be made by the Comanche chief and the few men who had escaped with him. Whoever it was coming, there were scores of horses, as the old hunter knew by his natural sharpness.
Like a flash he sprung to his feet and stamped upon the fire. The young hunter and the circus-rider were not backward in following his example, and the fire was soon extinguished, to the last spark.